c
  or Syed Mohammed Hassan Ali Khan[1] is a 56-year-old alleged money-

launderer[2] based in India and allegedly worth USD 9 billion or more according to police-
authorities. This figure has been verified from a letter written by UBS (Zurich) to Khan. The
Government of India has also confirmed the existence of this account in UBS, and ordered
him to pay Rs 50,000 crore (USD 10 billion) in taxes on that wealth. However, according to
Khan, he is a scrap dealer with an annual income of Rs 30 lakh (USD 60,000). [3] Some
sources claim that he might be the fourth richest person in India and amongst the world's
dollar billionaires. [4] However, he is not officially recognized as a billionaire by any
publication because most of his money is in the form of unaccounted wealth or black money.
This can be considered true because India tops the list for black money in the entire world
with almost US$1456 billion in Swiss banks (USD 1.4 trillion approximately) in the form of
black money.[5] According to the data provided by the Swiss Banking Association Report
(2006), India has more black money than the rest of the world combined.[6][7] Indian Swiss
bank account assets are worth 13 times the country¶s national debt.[8]

The Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax department along with the Economic Offences
Wing (EOW) of Maharashtra are probing the illegal investments and charges of money
laundering against Khan.[9] The Supreme Court of India (SC) questioned the Central
Government¶s inertia on this issue. ³What the hell is going on in this country?´ the bench of
justices asked as it heard a PIL filed over this issue.[10] Expressing its disappointment, the
bench remarked: "There are instances when minor offenders are shot down for violating
Section 144 CrPC, but you don't take any action against these people. We are very sorry. All
these people are now free.[11] What is in the way of taking action against Hasan Ali? How
many years will investigations continue against Ali?´ The Income Tax tribunal also
reportedly asked Ali to reply to their notice within 15 days. Ali reportedly has not paid his tax
evasion penalty worth Rs 40,000 crore.[12]



[hide]

÷ 1 Introduction
÷ 2 Biography
„ 2.1 Personal life
„ 2.2 Small beginnings to commanding heights
Ë 2.2.1 Relationship with Adnan Khashoggi
Ë 2.2.2 How his bank account swelled
÷ 3 Claims and allegations
„ 3.1 Allegations
Ë 3.1.1 Money laundering
Ë 3.1.2 Others
„ 3.2 Convictions and court-cases
„ 3.3 Current enquiry
÷ 4 See also
÷ 5 External links
÷ 6 References
u 


Disclosing the list of defaulters in the Rajya Sabha on 4 August 2009, the Minister of State
for Finance S S Palanimanickam said in a written reply that Hassan Ali Khan tops the list of
tax defaulters in India with an outstanding tax arrear of more than Rs 50,000 crore (USD 10
billion). [13] Former Union Minister and BJP MPArun Shourie said that Ali Khan has been
known to be connected to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, known to have been channeling
very large amounts from unknown sources into the Indian stock market, and had 8 to 9 billion
dollars in the UBS and other banks of Switzerland, and has been responsible for hawala
transactions (money laundering) of over Rs. 35,000 crore (USD 7 billion) through Swiss
banks.[14] When asked if Hassan Ali is likely to be arrested, India Today editor Prabhu
Chawla said that he doesn't "have much hope" citing that getting Swiss banks to disclose
details is not easy as India hasn't signed a treaty with the Swiss government and also due to
Indian government's attitude. [15]

In January2011, news reports stated that, "Swiss banks will hold back information on cash
allegedly stashed there by Pune-based Hasan Ali Khan on a technical ground. Swiss
authorities¶ refusal to part with the information is on the premise that the offence allegedly
committed in India²in this case of not filing tax returns²is not an offence under Swiss
law."[16] Folco Galli, information chief of the Swiss department of justice and police, claimed
that the Indian government had submitted "forged" documents to seek assistance in the Hasan
Ali Khan case.[17] Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said investigators had information on
three Swiss bank accounts being allegedly held by Hasan Khan, but no money was left in
them. In one, $ 60,000 was deposited but withdrawn within a day and no trace was
left.[18][19][20]

Hassan, the 56-year-old Indian tax evader, is said have had 1.5M Dollars - over 5 crore
rupees at the Dollar-Rupee exchange rate of the year- in his bank accounts in the year 1982.
In the year 1982, he was only about 28 years old. Neither Enforcement Directorate nor CBI
has any idea how did he get so much money initially.[21]

u 
 
Till the late 90s, Hasan Ali, along with his wife Mehbooba Khan and two sons, lived in
Banjara Hills - one of the most expensive addresses in Hyderabad. Here, between 1990 and
1993, he was accused in six cheating cases that earned him the title of c
 
 
 

 c
 

 



 
 

c   
     

  !"

Hailing from a Hyderabadi family based at Musheerabad, Hasan Ali has a brother and four
sisters.[23] Born in 1953 and brought up in Hyderabad, Khan lived with his wife Mahbooba
Khan in the posh Banjara Hills before he divorced her and shifted to Pune 10 years ago after
marrying his present wife Rheema, sister of a horse-trainer, Faisal Abbas. The couple have a
six-year-old son. Better known in the racing circles as H.A. Khan, he owns 10 horses, besides
two floors in the swanky Tulip Apartments of Valentina Society in Pune's Koregaon Park and
a flat in Anand Darshan building in the upmarket Peddar Road in Mumbai. He also owns two
Mercedes and a Porsche.[24]
Come horse-racing season, and Khan would shuttle between Pune and Mumbai. A pastime
associated with the rich and famous, horse-racing was Khan's obsession as well, though he
was not inclined to hobnob with the glitterati of the race course. A rather quaint figure, he
could be seen occupying the last corner seats with wife Rheema. Even his horses gave the
spotlight a miss, garnering only a few second-rung trophies. Khan's routine at the race course
was without deviation. Fitted out in his trademark Safari suit, he would reach sharp at 11 am
and leave by 3 pm. For someone who the i-t Department claims enjoyed an extravagant
lifestyle, Khan wasn't even famous within the racing circles. "Of our members, he kept the
most low profile, preferring not to interact with anyone," says Vivek Jain, committee member
of the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) at Mumbai. Low-key in life, he displayed a
modest taste when acquiring thoroughbreds, opting for the comparatively cheap grade four
variety priced between Rs 15,000 and Rs 1 lakh. He did not own any stud farm, instead
preferring to pay maintenance charges of Rs 15,000 per horse to the RWITC and the Pune
Turf Club. Jain finds it incredible that he could have made money through betting. If not
betting, then what? That's the question dogging the I-T Department.[24]

Swiss connections of the horse-owner came to light during raids at his Pune and Mumbai
residences between January 5 and 7 by the Income Tax (I-T) Department and the
Enforcement Directorate (ED). A laptop seized from the Mumbai address, together with Rs
85 lakh in cash, sent the 53-year-old Khan scurrying to Pune's Jehangir Hospital with severe
chest pain. Not surprising, considering the laptop contained a list of 10 Swiss Bank accounts
reportedly stashed with over Rs 20,000 crore-all of it unaccounted for. According to I-T
sources, the money came from hawala transactions Khan conducted for politicians and
businessmen. "He was a hawala operator who shipped funds abroad to countries like
Mauritius and Madagascar and then re-routed the money to India through bogus companies in
order to evade tax," an official said, requesting anonymity. Links with terrorists and the
underworld are also not being ruled out. The cash, it is suspected, was being parked by Arabs
who, after the 9/11 World Trade Center bombings, were finding it difficult to invest with
European and UK banks.[24]

u 

 

Hailing from a Hyderabadi family based at Musheerabad, Hassan Ali has a brother and four
sisters. His father was an excise-officer. He married Mahboobunnissa Begum and divorced
her in 1999. He got his elder daughter married off in a good Muslim family in Banjara Hills.
From his humble parental abode at Mushirabad, he moved to Shahjahan Apartments in
Khairatabad. He ran a successful car rental agency in Shahjahan Apartments. He came in
touch with Mr. S. A. Alam, manager of State Bank of India, Charminar Branch, Hyderabad
and with the help of his joint accomplices - P.R.Khan and Azad Khan, in the disguise of his
export business cheated the bank out of millions of rupees. Mr. Alam lost his job as a result
but could not do anything. Later, Hasan moved to the posh Banjara Hills area and acquired
properties during the economic boom. His second wife Reema belongs to the famous
'Poonavala' family.

u  



  


Khan has an unsavoury past. This is going by his record in Hyderabad, where he lived till the
mid-nineties. There are two sparingly varying accounts:
 ÷ According to Khan¶s account to investigating agencies, his father was an excise
officer in Hyderabad, where Khan studied till Class 12, and went on to sell antiques,
claiming to be a descendant of the Nizam¶s family. He then started a car rental service
in 1970, before switching, in 1988, to a metal trading business in Dubai. Khan said
this business, called Great Ventures, closed down in 1993. Meanwhile, Khan entered
the world of horse racing in Hyderabad in 1991 with only two horses. Then in 1994,
he began racing at Mumbai¶s Mahalaxmi racecourse, where he also was a punter.
Soon, he expanded his horse racing activities to Pune, Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi.
Police say his horses even began racing in Switzerland and London. Khan has
reportedly won four races and was also a member of the Royal Western India Turf
Club (RWITC), Pune. According to Imtiaz Sait, a trainer at the RWITC, Khan used to
sit alone in a corner of the members¶ enclosure at the racecourse. ³None of us knew
him well. He kept to himself,´ Sait said. Many of his other ventures were failures.
After closing down the car rental and then a scrap business, Khan started a jewellery
shop in Kuwait in partnership with a man called Hussain from Jammu and Kashmir in
2006-07. Pune Police say they interrogated Khan in March 2007 soon after his name
appeared in the media for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore hawala racket.[25]

÷ According to other people¶s account to investigating agencies, as his family had fallen
on bad times in the 1970s, he started out as a tuitions teacher but subsequently started
cheating people and banks. He was also a suspect in a case of throwing acid on a
doctor in the city and in a hawala racket case. From being a trickster, he graduated to
be a cheat and then a bank scamster. From there he became a hawala operator and
ultimately an international money laundering racketeer, people who have known him
in Hyderabad told TOI. People who know him from the 70s said his family had fallen
on bad times and he had begun giving tuitions.[1]

From a humble beginning as a punter at the Mahalaxmi race course in Mumbai, Khan soon
became a horse owner and was even involved in several failed ventures: a travel agency, a
car-wash plant that never took off, a metal trading company named Great Ventures that went
bankrupt and a business in selling artefacts. When trading in artefacts, he would claim to be a
descendent of the royal Nizams and try to pass off white marble statues from Makrana of
recent origin as antiques. His legally viable ventures would inevitably perish. It was during
this time that Khan came in contact with Kashinath Tapadia, brother of the late Priyamvada
Birla of the Birla business house. I-T sources, who have also questioned Tapadia, claim the
duo ran the hawala business as partners and the money was routed through Tapadia to the
beneficiaries. The two also allegedly donned the mantle of invisible investors in Indian equity
markets. Sources say Khan used Participatory notes to invest in the capital and commodity
markets. (Participatory notes can be traded like stocks and sold as notes. These transactions
are, at times, untraceable.) Among his close associates was hotelier Phillip Anandraj, who
owns the Korma Sutra in Zurich. Anandraj, who was interrogated by the ED, is known for his
political connections and, say sources, could have been involved in the hawala racket.[24]

Khan first opened an account with UBS Singapore in 1982 with just $1.5 million and after
some time received $300m in this account allegedly from Khashoggi¶s Chase Manhattan
bank account in New York. Why this bank-transfer was made is unknown [26] Khan has been
given one month¶s time to reply to a show-cause notice to explain how his funds grew from
an initial deposit of $1.5 million in 1982 to a balance of $8 billion by 2006. [25]

u  

  

 
The ED has traced Khan¶s alleged transaction with Adnan Khashoggi through a notarized
statement of Khan signed on 29 June 2003 in London. The document contains a letter written
by Khan to Prabhu Guptara, director, Organizational Development, Woflsberg Executive
Development Centre, Switzerland (a subsidiary of UBS), #$ 


%




    &'(

 $



)   

$  The letter explained the circumstances in which Khan first opened an account
with UBS Singapore in 1982 with $1.5 million, through Retro Hartmann of UBS Singapore
and then how allegedly Dr Peter Weilly, porfolio manager of Khashoggi, virtually took over
as his manager. Khan had received $300m in this account allegedly from Khashoggi¶s Chase
Manhattan bank account in New York. After the document was notarized by a UK notary on
June 29, 2003, Khan seems to have allegedly reported his Indian passport as lost in London
and acquired a new passport there. A copy of the first page of the old passport is enclosed
with the notarised document. The probe has also thrown up µevidence¶ against Khan¶s
associate Kashinath Tapuria, who has said that two politicians, one of them a senior
Congressman, had referred Khan to him during his days of financial difficulties.[26]

u c

  

 

Evidence from a June 2003 document recovered by the agencies, duly notarised by the
Notary Public of London [25][27]

‡ Khan had started an account with a deposit of $1.5 million with UBS Singapore in 1982. [26]
The recommendation for opening the specified bank-account was organised by Dr Peter
Weilly through arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, whose portfolio was handled by Weilly

‡ A payment of $240 million (allegedly from Adnan Khashoggi's Chase Manhattan Bank
account in New York)[28] was approved by Weilly and accepted by Reto Hartman at UBS
Singapore

‡ After the $240 million transaction, the account moved from UBS Singapore to UBS Zurich
in 1986

‡ By December 1997, the deposit amount reached $560 million. Due to certain problems,
Khan could not operate this account (Swiss authorities froze the account saying that the
"Funds were from weapons sale.")[28]

‡ By 1999, the same account mysteriously increased to $969 million (~ US$ 1 billion). Most
of this money is lying as liquid cash and bonds[28]

‡ By 2001, a refund of $300 million was deposited as µfunds from weapon sales¶ into the
account. A little later, the account became non-operational.[29]

‡ As on August 31, 2006, the balance in the account was US$6.6 billion

‡ Balance as on November 2, 2006: $7.7 billion

‡ Balance as on December 8, 2006: $8.04 billion

ED¶s findings included Khan¶s plan to finance a $500 million project of Khashoggi that was
contained in a notarized document signed by him on 29 June 2003 in London. A notarized
document is certified by a licensed public officer who serves as an impartial witness and
establishes the authenticity of the signatures. The two transfers of $1.6 billion and $7 million
that are said to have come to light recently were carried out in November 2006 through
correspondent banking, an arrangement where one bank makes or receives payments on
behalf of another. The money was transferred from Bank Sarasin to a US branch of Citibank
NA, then to Barclays Plc in the UK and finally deposited in a firm in the UK. ED is now
conducting fresh inquiries into the matter. Khan has challenged the tax authority¶s demand
for unpaid taxes in the income tax appellate tribunal. The case will come up for hearing on 21
July 2010. [30]

u   
    


u  



u 
  

Officers in investigating agencies in India claimed that this person could be the latest
unknown rich businessman on the block. He was found to have operated Swiss accounts
involving over Rs 1.5 lakh-crore($32 billion). The income tax department has levied a tax of
Rs 71,848($15.6 billion) crore on him for concealing Indian income secreted in Swiss
accounts. His wealth is said to be in the region of anything between USD 8-9 billion or much
more, and most of it unaccounted.[31] He allegedly stashed US$ 8 billion in his Swiss bank
accounts (mostly in UBS[32][33]) through money-laundering. His wife Reema and her brother
Faisal Abbas have allegedly helped him hide since 2007. Khan's lawyer Majid Memon said
"his client was not in touch with him" as of 17 August 2008.[34] He was a Pune-resident and
horse trading circles describe him as a smart punter but a small time horse owner.[31]

Along with his partner Kashinath Tapuriah, Ali allegedly opened two fictitious companies
|c

and  


in the Virgin Islands and laundered money to the tune of US
$280 million. [28]

A year after he was raided, the US $8 billion man still roamed free.[28]

The reluctance of these top Swiss banks mentioned above to help Indian investigators is
slowing the unravelling of an intricate multinational trail of money transfers²across
Switzerland, New York, the British Virgin Islands and Pune²between an Indian horse owner
and a fugitive Saudi arms dealer, according to officials in the Enforcement Directorate, the
government body that investigates economic crimes. Investigators from the ED, who recently
claim to have found $8 billion in the Swiss bank accounts of Hasan Ali Khan, say they now
have evidence of a $300 million transfer to him (via a Chase Manhattan bank account in New
York) from billionaire Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, whose arms supplies to Tamil
terrorists, the LTTE, were revealed during an investigation into the 1991 assassination of
Rajiv Gandhi. The government has told the Bombay high court that the Khans are ³virtually
absconding´ and if they are allowed to leave India, investigations could collapse. Khan¶s
counsel, Milind Sathe, said his client ³regularly appeared before the Directorate´. Asked
where Khan was, his main lawyer, Mugdha Jadhav, said: ³Can¶t tell you, sorry.´ [33]

u  

Police sources in Hyderabad aver that he had also laid hands on some jewellery of the family
of Nizams and siphoned them off. "There is no police complaint on this because much of the
Nizam's riches have gone missing over the years," sources said. The value of the jewellery he
pilfered is not known and neither the parties that he sold them to.[35]

He has 10 cases lodged against him, ranging from cheating to con games to extortion. His
career in crime started with throwing acid on his neighbour in 1984, who is a paediatrician
called Dr. P Niranjan Rao of Punjagutta in Hyderabad. Dr P Niranjan Rao's face was
disfigured and he had to undergo 30 surgeries. By the time he got into the havala business, he
was a well known but shady figure.[36] He was also accused of six cheating cases between
1990 and 1992 which got him the title :
c
 or Thief Hasan.

His first hawala operation came unstuck. He was tasked to get back into the country the
monies of a dead man which were locked up in a Singapore bank. Though he failed, he came
in contact with a bigger operator called Kanti Das Tapadia (sic).[35]

The Economic Times stated, "An Enforcement Directorate investigation has revealed that
Hasan Ali had rather modest beginnings. He started a car rental service and a travel agency in
1993 which he wound up in 1994. Subsequently, he started working with his brother-in-law,
Hyder Ali Khan , and got embroiled in some petty bank cheating cases and other criminal
cases in Hyderabad. Investigators also discovered that a stud farm in Gongupalli in Andhra
Pradesh, which he allegedly owns was purchased by one Saujad Nawab. The purchase of land
for this stud farm was illegal since the state government had assigned land to landless people,
the person said. The government had sent letters of rogatory, which are formal requests, to
the US, Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK and the UAE. A response received from the US has
confirmed that Hasan Ali had transferred $700,000 from Sarasin Bank, Basel, Switzerland, to
SK Financial maintained with Barclays Bank in London."[37]

Adnan Khashoggi transferred US $300 million from his Chase Manhattan Bank account in
New York into Hassan Ali's United Bank of Switzerland account in Zurich. The Swiss
authorities froze the account saying that the (
 
 $


 Ali and his close
associate Kashinath Tapuriah then adopted different techniques to try and make this account
operational. The link to Khashoggi adds a new dimension to the investigation into Ali.
Khashoggi is known in India as one of those named in the Jain Commisison of enquiry into
the Rajiv Gandhi Assassination and globally for brokering arms deals between the US and
Saudi Arabia. Investigators say that this only convinces them of Ali's wide range of
operations and contacts.[28]can any one believe that a single man handle all these transaction
it is just stupid

u 
!

  
"



The oldest case against Hasan Ali pertained to an acid attack on a doctor, his neighbour, in
1984. Dr P Niranjan Rao's face was disfigured and he had to undergo 30 surgeries. Since the
police could not trace the records relating to the case, it is not clear whether Hasan Ali was
arrested and acquitted in this case.[23]

Khan was arrested, convicted, but subsequently acquitted in some bank-fraud and similar
fraud cases amounting to Rs. 2 crore (USD 500,000) in the early 1990s. [38] What happened:
In 1990, the manager of State Bank of India, Charminar branch, had lodged a complaint
stating that Hasan Ali had fraudulently withdrawn a total of Rs 26 lakh on three occasions
against cheques that later bounced. A similar case was lodged for defrauding the Grindlays
Bank. In September 1991, the central government had announced an amnesty scheme
wherein it allowed Indian citizens to get foreign exchange from outside. Subsequently at least
four persons approached Hasan Ali, who promised them demand drafts in dollars. He had
allegedly collected Rs 10.35 lakh from Suresh Mehta, Rs 6.29 lakh from Rajesh Gupta, Rs 36
lakh from T Ramnath and Rs 18.22 lakh from P Rama Koteswara Rao. He then produced
'international money orders' and handed over demand drafts to them to encash the dollars.
However, the customers found the DDs to be fake and lodged complaints with the police in
1992. He was subsequently acquitted and a police commissioner said, "No case is pending
against him as all the previous cases were disposed of by the courts."[23]

Khan now faces a whooping Rs 1 L cr fine for acquiring Rs 36000 crores or more in
assets.[26][39]

u  #

As of 13 April 2010, a letter rogatory is to be issued by the magistrate¶s court in India to the
Swiss police, which will present it to the authorities in Switzerland. The Swiss court will
decide whether the request by the Indian authorities is to be complied with. Ever since the I-T
authorities raided his premises in 2007, it has been speculated that the money allegedly
deposited by Mr Khan in Swiss Banks in fact belonged to politicians and industrialists and
that Khan was only a conduit who facilitated the transfer of the money from India, apparently
on a commission basis.[40]

Switzerland's Federal Office of Justice (FoJ) had last told Indian authorities in August 2010
to complete their request and the request has not been completed so far.[41] It also stated that
the Indian Government had submitted 'forged' documents pertaining to the case of Khan. BJP
leader Arun Shourie accused the Manmohan Singh government of hiding behind a ³veneer of
respectability´ while deliberately suppressing the ³fact´ of forged documents being supplied
to Swiss banks in the case of Khan.[42]

In the Press conference held by Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on 25 January
2011, he revealed that three accounts held by Khan in Swiss bank are found empty and there
is no trace of money worth $8 billion. There have been speculations[
*] that the money was
transferred to Saudi Arabia for arms dealing.[*]

On 03/03/2011, Supreme court of India has quetioned the Indian governament on why
custodial interrogation of Hasan Ali and other alleged black money launderers had not taken
place yet. In the process, the Supreme court has asked the governament "What is in the way
of taking action against Hasan Ali", "How many years will investigations continue against
Ali?". The apex court also ordered forthwith reinstatement of three key ED officials allegedly
transferred midway into the probe in a case of foreign exchange law violation by the Pune
businessman Hasan Ali Khan.[43]

u  


÷ List of Indians by net worth
÷ List of non-Forbes billionaires
÷ Corruption in India
 ÷ Adnan Khashoggi
÷ Dawood Ibrahim
÷ A. Raja
÷ Ramalinga Raju
÷ Harshad Mehta
÷ Ketan Parekh
÷ Abdul Karim Telgi